The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Sue Horner is a freelance writer in Oakville, Ontario, who blogs about writing, newsletters, communications and running an independent business in The Red Jacket Diaries blog.
IBD can’t wait

IBD can’t wait

A woman knocked on my door one day, asking to use the washroom. I don’t remember if she had a card to say she suffered from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), but that’s probably the only reason someone would ask to use a stranger’s bathroom....
Don’t be a hoarder

Don’t be a hoarder

You wouldn’t believe it, looking at my office last week, but I am not a hoarder. Hoarders, as displayed to the world in the A&E show of the same name, have “an inability to part with their belongings” that is so out of control, they are on the...
Thank a teacher

Thank a teacher

“If you can read this, thank a teacher.” This is how a post linked to by my friend and colleague Joan Vinall-Cox began. While blogger Ralf Schwartz suggested that the best way to thank your teacher is to teach others “by further developing what your...
Sue awards her own gold medals

Sue awards her own gold medals

Phew. It’s been all Olympics, all the time for the past two weeks, and I’m ready to say goodbye to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. But first, my own gold medals go to the things I loved about these Winter Olympics. Gold medals: * Patriotic feelings....

Attention-grabbing titles, 2010

If you pay close attention to words and love clever word play, you’ll enjoy The Bookseller, a British trade magazine, and its quirky “oddest book title” contest. I first ran across this contest in 2008 and have looked forward to reading about it ever...

Back to reality

Here’s what I learned from taking a week off and flying to Florida for my younger son’s school break: If you’re looking for beach weather, Florida might or might not have it in February. We happened to hit a week of temperatures in the mid-70s, which...

Red Cross gets it right

There aren’t many companies that have earned the trust the Red Cross has. In my in-box today was the latest example of how they do it. I had made a donation to the Canadian Red Cross in support of their earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, and today they sent an...